3D Printing at Home: Fab@Home

In our previous article on 3D Architectural Printing we looked at the use of commercial 3D printing for the creation of physical city models thanks to those nice people atSweet Onions Creations. We would argue that we are at the start of a revolution in home based manufacture using these machines, within the next 10 years design files will be shared as much as music files are today to print out new objects in the home.

Central to this is the Fab@Home project, 3D Printers or Fabbers as they are known are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefully depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer.

Slowly but surely, with the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.

A fabber can allow you to explore new designs, email physical objects to other fabber owners, and most importantly – set your ideas free. Just as MP3s, iPods and the Internet have freed musical talent, we hope that blueprints and fabbers will democratize innovation.

While several commercial systems are available, their price range – tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands of dollars – is typically well beyond what an average home user can afford. Furthermore, commercial systems do not usually allow or encourage experimentation with new materials and processes. But more importantly, most – if not all – commercial system are geared towards making passive parts out of a single material.

The goal of the Fab@Home project is to explore the potential of universal fabrication: Machines that can use multiple materials to fabricate complete, active systems.

New Scientist have uploaded onto YouTube a 5 minute long interview with Evan Malone a co-founder of the Fab@Home project. The clip is well worth a look at it provides examples of the home based 3D printer to date as well as an insight into the future when these become part of everyday life:

2300$ to get your own chocolate cookies and decorative flowers? Sounds a little bit freaky to me. However, do you know the RepRap project? It’s the “practical self-copying 3D printer”, licensed under GPL. Look here for more. This should also work for cookies 😉

Anonymous, The RepRap would still be considerable in price due to the currency conversion — though, the pricing is nominal in the context of commercial systems, which is what I think this entry is pointing out in this space.

I can think of endless uses for rapid prototyping in the home — including manufacture of actual objects for sale to anyone interested. Why not? As long as the material is appropriate for a use, one could potentially have a way to manufacture small objects and generate a light income from their designs.

Very neat technology. There was a DIY kit also floating around for object to file conversion as well — using milk. I’m not sure where that link is at the moment, but it’s probably an easy search.